Monday 25 February 2019

What's been happening with the sheep this week.

My horned ewe did lamb a couple hours after I posted. She popped out a nice healthy ewe lamb, unassisted. The good news is the ewe lamb is a pure Horned Dorset; the sad news is she will replace her mother who has severe mastitis and will have to be culled. I'm grateful to have a replacement with excellent breeding.

I bottle feed the lamb four times a day as the ewe isn't producing any milk. But the ewe is an excellent mother otherwise, and being together makes them both happy. I'm just the lady that holds the bottle.


They are the only pair left in the barn. I moved the 5 ewes and 9 lambs from our orchard to a bigger field with fresh grazing.

A majority of the ewes in my flock are now related to my horned ram, so I'm looking for a new ram, probably a polled (hornless) one with the right breeding. I still have Bertram the Friesian, but at the moment he is on thin ice with me.

Bertram likes the ladies. It doesn't matter if they're mine or my neighbours'. And Bertram, with his long dairy sheep legs, can jump a lot of the fences. I often get calls from the neighbours to say Bertram is visiting, wooing their sheep. Thankfully, all the ewes he's managed to reach have already been pregnant, and all my neighbours have seen the funny side of it. Probably because Bertram is very personable.

Bertram now waits for me to show up in the trailer with a bucket of grain to give him a lift home after his night out carousing.

I am literally an Uber for a sheep.

He recognises the Land Rover and wanders over. I get out and give him a pat, and usually some lame speech like "Where do you think you've been, You treat this house like a hotel", etc. Bertram doesn't even have the decency to look contrite. He just walks straight in the trailer and eats his breakfast.


The farmers don't bother to hide their laughter now. They are laughing down the phone when they call me to tell me Bertram's escaped again.

I've put him back in with the goats, where the fences are a bit higher and there are some of my ewes (already pregnant) to keep him happy. I love Bertram but he's an arse.

Dropped off in the goat paddock, striding out to see the ladies.

It was market day today, so I got up early and loaded up my last four castrated ram lambs to sell. I'm still very new to the workings of the market, but I'm of the "fake it til you make it" school, and I just get behind guys who look like they know what they're doing, and copy them.

Once unloaded, you make your way forward, towards the weigh scales, shutting the pens as you funnel forwards -



We're waiting our turn at the weigh scales - a big platform where an average weight of similar sized lambs is taken -


As you can see, I had one slightly smaller. They mark him with an "A" but sell him in the same pen. I don't know what the A stands for, but I will find out and let you know. 

I got back from market and gathered 19 of my ewes that were "on tack" - winter grazing on a field used for cattle in spring -  and gave them a quick health check, foot trim, and a dose of wormer based on the vet's advice. 

The barn is so useful for basic sheep work.

They don't love it, but I think the ewes look way more appreciative of my help than Bertram does.


Once tended to, I loaded them up for the short journey to the new field shared with the mums and lambs.

The new trailer holds our whole flock - it's a double decker!

Now I get to tend to the really fun part: the paperwork.

5 comments:

Janice Bendixen said...

Jen, Bertram has you trained. Sorry...

Jennifer Montero said...

Janice, don't I know it. And sheep are allegedly dumb so what does that makes me?!?

Anonymous said...

Bertram is a lovely rapscallion. Makes everyone laugh!
barb

Mrs Shoes said...

That ram is a little bugger, his wanderings would make me cross with him. You're lucky to have such kind neighbours to keep laughing when he's a serial escape artist.

Questions please: I've never had it, but I want to try it! I hear on and on about lamb, but I never hear much about mutton. I would guess that lamb would be more tender, is that the allure? But also, I have heard that mutton can leave an unpleasant tallowy coating in the mouth, can you speak to that please?

Jennifer Montero said...

Mrs Shoes - I have great neighbours, which is why I try not to push my luck and why Bertram is in the goat enclosure now (higher fences).

I'm not an authority on lamb and mutton, but I'm happy to tell you what I know / what we do. Through most of history most people only ate mutton, after a sheep had provided wool and crops of new sheep. Mutton was initially just culled adults eaten when their useful days were done.

I imagine that if you could afford to eat young sheep, it would have been a status thing. A bit like eating baby vegetables today.

Lamb is more tender and not as strong tasting as mutton. Both can leave an unpleasant tallowy tasting coating of fat in the mouth, as lamb fat congeals at lower temperatures than beef or pork. Mutton is darker, stringer, and usually benefits from longer cooking time and bolder spicing than lamb.

Just to be confusing, there are some breeds of sheep like the Herdwick that are known for producing really good, tasty mutton. A necessity as the breed puts on weight very slowly and evolved in harsh conditions. A Herdwick lamb would be boney and less than half the weight of other lambs their age, so eating Herdwick lamb would be a waste.

Lamb is sheep up to a year old, hogget is a year plus, so I guess you could class any adult over 2 as mutton. Commercial lamb breeds fed lots of concentrates (grains) can be ready for market and the dinner plate as early as 4 months old. Mine take 2-3x as long fattening slower on grass. I bring finished lambs to market or the abbatoir at 40kg live weight. My adult ewes weight between 60-90 kgs.

My adult ewes go to market when their breeding days are over, as a separate "crop" from my lambs / hoggets. There's a strong market in the UK for the mutton among British ethnic groups like Pakistanis and Caribbean peoples, as it suits their culinary traditions.

That may be more than you wanted to know, but I hope it answers your question. Definitely taste them all and decide what you think. If you like the taste of lamb but not the tallowy coating of fat in your mouth, try goat instead.